


A Bastard and a Prince

by Sookiestark



Series: Dragons and Their Riders [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dragons, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-05-19 01:03:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sookiestark/pseuds/Sookiestark
Summary: How Daeron Targaryen and Addam Velaryon met and fell in love and how the war drove them apart....





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Every time I read the Dance of the Dragons, I always am struck about when Addam attacks with Seasmoke at the Second Battle of Tumblestone and how Tessarion and Seasmoke almost do a mating dance. I know that it is said the rider does not necessarily impact the dragon but what if it does? I don't know but me spending time thinking about it is how this story came about

In the darkness, it is cloudy and the moon gives no light to the ground. I struggle to see. Seasmoke’s eyes are better than mine. He roars a gentle roar in her belly. I see my men attack the sleeping men from the left and flank. They have killed the guards. There will be no alarm, no warning for the Greens men. 

I search the field for the dragons. There should be three; Silverwing, Vermithor and Tessarion. I cannot see anything in the darkness. I have Seasmoke go lower to the ground. I am looking for the Targaryen banner. I am looking for a green tent wiith cobalt flags and Targaryen banners. I am looking for Prince Daeron’s tent. Unfortunately in the darkness, I can see nothing. 

I hear Lady Sabitha’s words, “We all have loved someone we shouldn’t. But when the time comes, will you choose duty or love?”

I can hear the smirk in her voice as the night wind whips my face and burns my ears. She did not think I would be strong enough. She thinks I will fail at my task. I must act quickly before the dragons take flight. Tessarion will be no match for three. I will not be able to save him. However, I must act now or my men on the ground will be doomed. 

I yell the word Seasmoke has been waiting for. I yell, “Fire!”

Immediately, he does as I bid, as if he is my only gift from my father, as if Seasmoke knows what I think and feel. Silently, I thank my father, my ancestors, and the Gods for giving me the ability to be a dragon rider. The power is a terrible wonderful gift. 

Opening his huge jaws, Seasmoke breathes jets of red hot fire in long streams on the tents in the darkness. We make four or five passes, swooping low over the tents and laying them to a fiery waste. I make another three passes and I go so low I can hear the men scream as they are bathed in fire. I hear the sound of the men in the battle below me. My men are fighting against the greens. Now, they are fighting hand to hand and it would be too destructive to breathe fire on the troops when I cannot see them. I would kill as many of my own men as my enemies. 

It is then I hear the cry. The clouds clear and the moon is bright in the sky. Tessarion spreads his wings above us. I see his copper belly and I wait for the attack. Seasmoke growls back and swoops low, and rises high. Tessarion follows us one step behind, snapping in a playful way. After several, rolls and dives, I realize that Tessarion is not going to attack. 

Instead, Seasmoke and Tessarion are playing. I can barely keep up with my dragon. One minute the flames that burn men on the ground are below me. The next moment, they are above me. One minute, Seasmoke has an aerial advantage. A second later, all I see in the moonlight is the shadow of Tessarion above me. I strain and look for Daeron. Surely, he will come. Surely, Tessarion will go to him. 

Then, I hear a terrifying sound of a roar but it sounds more like thunder, Vermithor comes out of nowhere and is flying towards me. Vermithor’s jaws are open and I can see the fire in his throat. It is only under threat of attack that Seasmoke stops playing. However, I think it is too late. Seasmoke is too small to stand against Vermithor alone. It is then I see Teassarion lunge for the great bronze beast...


	2. Chapter 2

I was a child given to worry and fears. I was a quiet child, hesitant and cautious. My nature was strange to my mother who did not seem to worry at all. Marilda of Hull was a rambunctious girl given to laughter and good times. Her laughter could be heard throughout the docks. 

My grandfather was named Ayden of Hull and he was the finest shipwrights on the Eastern Coast of the Seven Kingdoms and perhaps the in the known world. He was a big man who liked ale and spoke in a big voice. He had a temper and did not know temperance. He had survived numerous duels and barfights but he had a powerful patron. Ayden of Hull had the love and the coin of Lord Corlys Velayron, The Master of the Driftmark, the Old Sea Snake himself. 

So, when I was was cautious, my mother would tell me not to trouble myself and to play. But worry I did, I worried for her when she ould climb the ropes of ships or walk lightly over the beams between the high wooden ships and the dark dirty water beneath them. What would happen to me and my brother if she were injured or killed? I had seen the orphans on the streets of Hull. Occasionally, my grandfather or mother would take one of them in to work on the ships or clean the house. But there were too many, always hungry, always slightly wild on the corners. 

I would have terrible dreams sometimes of dragons burning villages, of a one-eyed man and a red-haired witch that could make a bone dragon walk, a dead infant, more monster than child slipping white, eyeless, with wings bloody from a princess’ legs, and a great black death freezing the world while wings rained down fire to burn the rest. When I was young, I would pull my baby brother closer to me to feel his warmth and weight and have it pull me from such terrible fear. 

One night I must have been only six, I woke from one of my nightmares to my mother. She was concerned and I remember her taking me in her arms while little Alyn slept. She whispered in her lilting voice, “Shh.. my sweet boy. I am here. You are well. All is fine.” 

I remember she smelled like spices, vanilla and cinnamon, and a hint of rum and wood from the shop and the sea. Her hair was honey and since she had been sleeping, it was long and spilled over her shoulders and tickled my face. I pushed my face closer to her. “Mama, I dreamed Hull burned and Driftmark. I dreamed foreigners came with steel and fire and burned the island and the city ran with the blood of the dead. I dreamed Granpa was stabbed, bleeding in a bed.” 

She tickled me gently, just a little to get me to smile. Whispering in my ear, “Addam, you worry too much. It’s not good for a little boy.”

“But Mama, what would we do if you died? Would we be like the orphans on the street, naked and starving?”

“Addam, I am not going to die. You have your Grandpa. He would take care of you and teach you his trade and one day, you would be the man who owned the business.”

“But, what if something happened to Grandpa?”

“Well, Nothing will.”

“But I dreamed of it. I dreamed of him bleeding in his bed and you were crying. I saw it, I swear.“

Mama smiled at me and kissed my forehead, “You are a strange one, my sweet boy. You must get that from your father. Just like you pretty hair and eyes.”

Mama never mentioned my father. I was a bastard which on the docks was not uncommon but we were merchants with money and a fine house. I had heard whispers enough. I knew it was a taint on my mother and myself and brother to be a bastard. I knew bastards were known to be liars, cheats, and villains. No man came to our house to pay her a call, even though she was young and pretty. No man ever came to call on her or claim us. My mother spoke a great deal but she never mentioned anyone who might be our father.

 

“Mama, who is my father?”

She smiled and kissed my forehead. “You needn’t worry, Addam. I won't tell you who he is but he won't let you starve. If you need him, he will come and help if the time ever comes.”

 

Shortly after this, Lord Daeron Velaryon came to our house. He sat in my Grandfather’s best room in his best chair and looked at my brother and me as if we were horses to buy. A month later, my brother and I went with Lord Daeron to across the Narrow Sea. I did not ask questions but I understood that Lord Daeron looked like me, the same silver hair and purple eyes. Though he worked us on the sea, Alyn and I were never beat and we were allowed to sit at his large table to eat, even if it was at the end. I realized that perhaps Lord Daeron was our father or at least, he was kin to him. 

Sometimes, the men at sea would tease us for being bastards. Alyn, even so young, would laugh and toss back insults to them. With a joke on his lips, Alyn saw the joy in everything. If men would call him a bastard and think of him as a lustful and base creature, Alyn would be just that. My little brother reveled in curse words and japes. 

I, on the other hand, worked harder to be good, loyal, trustworthy, and industrious. I would watch and learn, try to be quick, remember my manners. I tried to see everything, learn everything, and watch everything.

When we returned from Pentos, Mama had moved to her own house on a hill above the docks where the wealthy merchants lived. We had a tutor and some guards. One of the guards, a man named Pate, was to be our teacher of the sword, horses, and shield. He was a hard man who taught us with bruises and scrapes but we learned. Where Mama got the money for her own house, the servants, and the fine things to fill it, we did not know. Sometimes, I worried about it. 

 

When I was seven, Mama took us down to the docks. I expected to see Lord Daeron again. But this time, it was Lord Corlys Velaryon and his beautiful legendary ship, the Sea Snake. That year, Lord Corlys took us on his own ship to Pentos for trade. Lord Corlys was a legend in Hull and I knew this was a great honor for two bastards from a merchant girl. 

Lord Corlys had recently lost both his children. It was almost as if he wore his grief on his shoulders like a mantle and you could see how it weighed him down. As before, my brother and I worked hard but we were never beat. Alyn and I had a bed to sleep in, not just a blanket on the wet hard floor like other boys on the ship. Again, at dinner, we ate at Lord Velaryon’s table. Lord Corlys rarely spoke to us at all and if he did, he could barely look at us. I remember thinking that we must be the children of Lord Daeron else why would we have such an honor as sailing with Lord Corlys when he was in such a state.

It was like that for several years. Once a year, Lord Corlys Velaryon would make a journey and Alyn and I would go along. We went to Braavos, Volantis, Lys, Pentos, and Tyrosh, as well as King’s Landing, White Harbor, and Sunspear. Over the years, Lord Corlys slowly warmed to us. He would watch us and smile. Sometimes, he might tell us the stories of his journeys at dinner. 

Once, he tousled my hair and called me a good lad and a good sailor. I remember the pride that Lord Corlys had said I was good. I began to crave more praise and worked hard at winning everyone’s respect, but especially Lord Corlys. While Alyn played and reveled, I worked hard to be better than my birth, to be good and do the right thing. For the rest of the months when we were not sailing, we would study with our tutor and practice with Pate. Sometimes, we would go to the docks and help Grandpa with his trade, watching the men work. It was a simple enough life.

When I was eleven, I woke from my bed to noises in the house and crying. Going downstairs, I found Mama in the guest room crying over a figure in the bed. With a heavy heart, I walked into the room. There was my Grandpa bleeding from a wound in a fight at the tavern. My Grandfather died and I remembered my dreams and my worry. I began to wonder if we could outrun what our destiny and birth set out for us. 

When I was thirteen, Lord Corlys came to our house on the hill. He had never come to our house before. I remember thinking that he seemed tired and walked as if he was hurt. Lord Corlys spoke to Mama privately for a while in her parlor. I remember hearing her laughter come from behind the big oak door. When they were done speaking privately, Mama called Alyn and me to the room. Lord Corlys looked at me and then my brother. His face was wrinkled and red from the sun. Lord Corlys smiled, “I was telling your mother how helpful you boys have been to me over the years. I lost my own son a few years back. I need men I can trust, good men. Addam, you and your brother are men I can trust. I would like for you to start to help me with my trade. Next year, we will be going to Oldtown, Redwyne, Sunspear. I will have a need for you.”

Alyn spoke before me. I was about to kneel and pledge myself to him. Alyn spoke, “We will need compensation, my Lord… more than just a deckhand for such responsibilities. “

Lord Corlys laughed, “Of course, Alyn. Of course... This boy is a bit pirate.”

Then the old Sea Snake looked at me, “Addam, what do you think?”

I spoke, kneeling, ”Lord Corlys, I would be honored to protect your interests. Pay no heed to my brother. He is a jester. We are your men not for the coin but because we are loyal to the Driftmark and House Velaryon. You have our swords and our honor.”

Lord Corlys took my hand to help me up. When I looked in his eyes, I saw the familiar gleam of wit that Alyn’s eyes reflected. The old man spoke, “Addam, you are warmth to this old man. Your brother is the pirate but you have the heart of a true knight, loyal.”

I remember the feel of his hard old hand as he squeezed it. I remember thinking that finally, I would be able to show everyone that, despite being a bastard, I would be a good and honorable man. I remember thinking that on this journey I could change my destiny. I never would have known how it would change my destiny.


End file.
